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Judge Richard Garvey, Jr.

LAAS members know little about the man for whom Garvey Ranch Park and its observatory are named. Here’s a personal but brief vignette of him, as told by our own Thomas R. Cave, Jr. (1923-2003) in his unfinished autobiography. The following excerpt was edited by Lew Chilton, your LAAS History Detective.

A Guide to the Night Sky for April 2017

Spring has arrived, making it a great time to gaze at the celestial show going on above our heads every night (weather permitting!). The days are longer and many of us are remaining outdoors later and later, hopefully enjoying the romance of twilight. One planet in particular, rarely escapes this transitional luminance and that planet is Mercury. The swift and mysterious Mercury is the closest planet to The Sun and therefore never strays too far from it. It will only be visible for a very short window of time early this month…but you’ll need a clear, unobstructed view of the western horizon to see it.

Star Hopping in the Big City

Star hopping is an old method for finding objects that only requires a star chart and some planning. But doing it from the city can be challenging since you rarely can see stars brighter than 3rd or even 2nd mag with the unaided eye, and even through a 50mm finder it's a challenge.

In this article I'll describe the general equipment requirements and techniques for star hopping using the few stars available to city dwellers. I'll illustrate those techniques with actual star hops I used with the 8-inch f/12 refractor at Garvey Ranch park observatory on the night of Nov 2nd.

David Nakamoto has been star hopping for nearly 50 years, mostly from suburban skies, and while lately he prefers the swiftness of GOTO mounts, even with those he finds that a little star hopping is involved. He's been an LAAS member since 1989, although he's been "hanging around" the LAAS for longer than that.